How to Get More Referrals
Today we are going to be talking about how to get more business from the clients that you already have. I think this is something that a lot of business owners don't do or even want to think about. The thing is, is if you are not actively asking your current clients, your past clients for referrals, you were really leaving money on the table, right? Because a lot of times if you set up some sort of referral program, even if that's just like, oh, for every referral that I get, I'll pay you $100, right? Or the new person that comes in that you referred also gets $100 off their first invoice. Whatever it is that you want to have there, you will find that some clients just don't refer you right, they don't think about it. That's not the type of person that they are and that's find, right? They might be still fantastic clients that you love. But a lot of times with referrals, we start to see the 80/20 rule come into effect and that's where 20% of your clients or 20% of the people that you know that you've told about your program are referring 80% of your referrals to you. These are referrals for those people that just network. They’re always thinking about you they know other people who are like, oh, this person, you know, I work with them. They're so great. You know, amazing, whatever right?
Those people will continue to refer you will refer other people to you and your business time and time again. Right. And we love a referral because you don't have to do anything. Right. Right. I want to talk a little bit more on how to do this, how to do it in a way that really makes sense that's going to encourage more referrals and make sure that the referrals are quality right because we don't really want to have referrals coming to us are not relevant. Not our ideal clients, you know, not a great fit because that's kind of a time waster right. What I would really suggest is sit down and think about what can I do What can I offer as a referral? So that could be a discount off their next invoice. It could just be straight cash, right? It could be a gift; it could be whatever right? But you want to be something enticing enough for people to remember because some of your power refers are always going to be able to even if you don't pay a referral fee, right, that's just the type of people that they are. But if you have kind of an entitlement, referral fee or award or revenue, it's also going to encourage those people who might be a little bit more on the fence. don't really think about it. It's going to encourage them to mention you to other people too. And you want to think about like okay, what can I afford what makes sense, right? And you don't have to do a blanket referral fee. So for example, we just increased our referral fee to $500. Anyone who refers a new client to us, I just send them $500, right? That's super enticing, and that is a referral fee that we have both for current clients, but also for other service-based business owners, other people that might not be current clients of ours, but they might know someone who needs our servers for the digital marketing agency.
Photographers or graphic designers or anything like that if they refer one of their clients to the agency, and then $500 Right, but we're all a bit specific around that. If they refer someone a new client to us that signs on as an Ad Management client, or as an SEO, like an ongoing SEO client, or as a full-service digital marketing client. They get that $500 referral fee. We have some lower-level services that we've created to make all our services access accessible to businesses at different points. We have an SEO audit, and a digital marketing or digital ad audit, right? Those are not eligible for our $500 referral fee because they're at price points where that wouldn't make sense right there but they're both under $1,000. That doesn't make sense. We have that really enticing referral fee for services that we want to bring in. We really want to grow, continue growing our particularly our Ad Management clients, we want more ad management clients. We've created this really enticing referral fee specifically for those, so it doesn't have to suffer those services. It doesn't have to be a blanket referral fee across the board. So think about are there particular products or services or programs that you want to grow and what would an enticing referral fee or referral for those so it doesn't have to be a blanket thing, right? And you can even say, or you can say like oh okay $100 to you and $100 off their first invoice, right? Or they have to spend a certain amount like a minimum to make it fit for you. These are all great things that are just going to entice people and remind people hey, we do this mention us talk about us if you've had good experience, right? So how can we tell people about this? Well, number one, just tell people all the time. When I'm talking to people, I mentioned that we have this referral fee, right? Because you never know they might have a client they might offer totally different services or products, right?
But they might have a client that's a good fit, or they might know somebody you might be talking to someone who's not a business owner at all right? But they might know someone who is mentioned and think, you're right, one of my oldest clients was a referral from a friend. So don't discount friends and family, but make sure you're telling them what services you offer or what type of clients that you are trying to work with so that you're not getting referrals and that really aren't a good fit. Otherwise, it’s going to discourage you and discourage them from sending referrals your way if you turn around, they're like, Well, you're not a great fit, right? So, get clear on what referral reward you can give their mention it to everybody all the time. When you're signing a new client, that's a bonus. That's a value add, right? I'd be like, oh, awesome. Like I had some new clients might be like, oh, I know a few people I could refer that would make sense and I think $500 from each of those, like a yes, let's do that. Right? Or, and even if that potential client that led doesn't end up signing on, because they can't afford you or whatever, they might still be able to refer you. There's just so many levels. This can really benefit you right you can talk about it when you're networking. When you're sending invoices out every month. Have a little postscript in there saying you're such a great client we enjoy working with you so much. If you know anyone who is looking for XYZ product or service, please refer them to us and we would love to give you our referral reward of whatever $500, $100 off your next invoice, whatever, right?
It's gonna that is going to keep it fresh in their minds for you, right? When you are onboarding a client, right? You can have that mentioned that to them when you're out when you're sending them their final invoice when you're sending them the feedback questionnaire, right? You ask for a testimonial and then you went hey, I we have this referral fee. So if you know anybody, if you have again any leads that you talk to that what for whatever reason decided not to pull the trigger. Right, great opportunity to follow back up with them. Check in on how everything is going and hey, I just wanted to let you know I just created this new referral fee, this new referral reward. So if you know anyone who's a good fit, like, I'd love to be $500 Right? Well, I would love it. I would love to be $500 be the happiest part of my day, right? You want to just make sure you get clear on what the offer is for what product or service, right? What types of clients are looking for customers you're looking for? And then just talk to everybody about it. Right talk about it all the time. If you have a client if you have somebody who couldn't go for your higher tier product or service, so they needed to go down to a lower gear item, right, great opportunity to say okay, and you know, I know you couldn't afford that or that higher level, but I do have this referral program. Maybe that could help you to you know, adjust your spending budget a little bit that might help this work better, right? It's all that is going to do is have people coming to you and that's always the best thing. Having good quality leads come to you. It just saves you so much time. And then the more you get coming into you, the more clients you're going to convert, so the more possible people that you have in your wheelhouse to be referring you to more people right so do not sleep on a referral fee. That is the biggest thing that I want to I want you to take away from this episode. And we talk about this but so much more and in so many more ways that you can increase your revenue with your current clients, how you can find new clients how you can grow and scale your service-based business to six figures, and beyond in my course, Scale Your Service System. So again, if you have any questions about that if you think you might be a good fit. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @SamDiNicola. I also will have a link in the bio with more information on that course or you can go to my website SamDiNicolaDigital.com And as always, if you have been enjoying this episode of No Fluff Small Business Simplified, make sure you go ahead and leave us a review every single month and we choose one review to win a free coaching call with me. It's the best, cheapest, fastest way to get my eyes on your business and we can really look at how can you make more money in your business? How can you increase your revenue, right? So if you have questions around implementing this strategy for your business, leave a review and then we can talk about that in depth right on your free coaching call so make sure you leave a review and I will see you next time in No Fluff Small Business Simplified.
